1st Gen Tundra Armor Thread

I use my CO bumper as a table too lol

 

Did you go with Steel or Aluminum? I'm debating which route to take. I don't mind spending the extra cash if it's worth it.

 

Steel. It's still pretty light (just 23lbs heavier I believe) and will take a beating better than aluminum will

 

Anyone know what rear bumper this is?

 

Probably custom

 

Was afraid of that

 

I dunno but it looks sexy.

 

Damn right it does and look at that clearance

 

Found the source of the rear bumper. Custom build by Solo Motorsports. I’ll be reaching out to them soon.

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/lhanson-1st-gen-tundra-build.139528/

 

Brute force fab rear bumper, non high clearance model. A bit tight on the right side but likely my bedside is pushed in a bit or something. The mounting holes were just a hair too tight on that side though. A plastic piece up top for the tailgate gap might be nice too. Overall it’s my pick for steel rear bumper, not significantly heavier than stock really.

 

Looks great. I painted the tail gate gap black on mine

 

Looks great. Do you mind sharing what Billy charges for that one? How difficult is it to remove the OEM bumper? I've never looked.

 

Super easy to remove. It's like 6 or 8 bolts iirc

 

Removal was easy, hitch first then bumper. Just 3x12mm bolts for my oem bumper. I de-pinned the plate light connectors and replaced them. The alternative is remove the plastic cap to feed them out. Shifty covers that in his DIR install.

Bumper with PC was near $1k ish? Maybe a tad shy. Better value to get the high clearance option but I didn’t want to cut bedsides nor did I want the look. Given a factory bumper is at least $250, I’m ok with the cost but it wasn’t exactly a great financial move.

 

Surprisingly easy with no hitch. I had help from a neighbor but it is doable solo.

 

Mine had the hitch integrated into it so it was heavy and took a 2nd person to help me

 

Same here. I have no desire to cut my bed right now. Beds for these trucks are going to get impossible to find at some point and I don't want to cut a perfectly good one.
Couple more questions. Can you still use the original hitch or no? Next question and this one is very important. Did you apply fluid film to all critical areas while the bumper was off?

 

The design has an integrated hitch and mounts to the sides and bottom of the frame rails. You might be able to bolt a hitch below it with proper length bolts. My Curt used three bolts per side while this design only uses the rearmost two. So you would need a spacer of similar thickness if your hitch needs all 3 spots, or you might be all set if you just need 2? And your hitch would be lower than before by the thickness of the metal.

I’m not sure if the holes were drilled or present from the factory. Only one is threaded, the other two are just open.

I did not use any fluid film.

I can post photos from the undercarriage to illustrate what I describe.

 

I do not own any fluid film.

 

You live in CA. The air is magic and has fluid film in it!

 

This is why I got one as well. Every Tundra I've ever seen with a rear bumper collision had also damaged the bed substantially.

 

I wouldn’t say completely defeats the purpose. I haven’t hit my spare tire from what I know but I’ve hit my hitch receiver and bumper countless times. That section is considerably higher than my current stock setup.

 

@FrenchToasty whats the heaviest you’ve towed with your coastal rear? Would you be comfortable towing 7k? CO says tow rating all depends on the welders skill or some release of liability bs.

 

I’ve been wondering the same for my BFF.

 

Haha maybe 1000 lbs? Just this 12’ aluminum boat loaded the eff down with wood and other camping stuff.
If I were to tow something heavier, I would have boxed in the bumper and maybe added gussets from the hitch out to the frame rails. I feel like there would be a lot of deflection in the steel with to much tongue weight, but I guess it could handle towing weight just fine.

 

Yup. Plus you can easily toss the spare in the bed whenever you hit the trails.

 

Is that what your hooks are for? I was thinking through this as a potential backup plan if I can't fit my 285 underneath. Seeing as how I have a fair bit of bed space. I might try to rig something up...

 

Originally yes. I mounted d rings to my bed using the bed bolts near the tailgate. The trouble with that was the tire being in my way when loading anything into the bed. It works well to make the tire easy to access but it got annoying to live with.

Eventually I put a tire mounting plate towards the cab and use that instead. It still eats space but I can load stuff in the bed without trouble. At some point I will reconfigure my exhaust so that I can put my spare under the bed for daily driving.

 

Thanks. I'm hoping I can stuff mine but we'll have to see. I would be 100% OK re-routing the exhaust if it passes smog.